JimmyHendricks

I thought the Bulldogs/Hart Foundation tag match on disc one was a terrible one to include. A time limit draw because of a "curfew"? I had never heard of that before. The Main feature left me wanting more, but not another hour or anything--more insight from Bret. I mean, it's been 8 years, and the most he can say about Montreal was "I stand by my actions, I stand by what I did"? The same with Owen's death. I hope I'm not the only one, but Bret seems to be a pretty big fan of himself. He constantly talks about how great his matches were and how he was better than anyone. Not very humble if you ask me. No Stampede matches in their entiriety? I would have loved to see more than 30 seconds Bret/Dynamite. With the video Tribute to the wrestlers who have passed away: Why did he get so emotional when talking about Rick Rude? What did he do for him that made him a hero to Bret? Confusing. The Steamboat match was awesome, as was the tag match vs. The Rockers. The ending sucked, though, like all most of the tag matches in this set. I really wish they would have included the SS 96 match with Austin in addition to the WM 13 one. It would have really captured that feud if BOTH matches were included. The Action Zone match with Owen wasn't as good as WM 10 or the SS 94 cage match, but I can see why Bret likes it so much. I really liked having the IYH match vs. Bulldog. You can really hear Vince's anger when it's revealed that Bret is bleeding. Of course, it didn't last long as that match was shown on RAW a few weeks later. Overall, if I was to give it a letter grade, I'd give it a B-. Why? Well, the feature was informative, but could have had so much more. Plus, some of the match selections (like the Bulldogs match) weren't very good. Finally, (and what pisses me off about WWE releases), a good chunk of the matches are available on other releases. One or two is ok, but this release has SIX matches that are available on other releases. Of course, 3 of those are Wrestlemania matches, but you get the idea. But, considering how much time they had and how quickly it all came together, it's a fantastic set. I bought it at Best Buy for 19.99, and it's definitely worth it. But if it goes up to $30+ (which it probably won't), then I'd think twice.

I still don't understand why it has been determined that this whole thing is about Kurt Angle. I still don't understand why this whole thing is considered to be legitimate. It never mentions anyone in particular, and doesn't really say why this particular person is on a "deathwatch". But now Kurt Angle's death is imminent because of his use of painkillers and him pushing himself too hard, all because of something the Torch said that really revealed nothing to begin with. To talk about an unnamed wrestler being on a deathwatch because of unnamed reasons, well, I don't understand why anyone is treating it seriously.

I can't believe a cryptic posting from the torch that really reveals NOTHING has let to the upcoming death of Kurt Angle in the next 6 months. It's amazing how people will take basically a gossip rumor and run with it. If Eddie didn't die, then we wouldn't be talking about this. Now apparantly Kurt, Flair, Benoit, and HHH are all on their last legs because of some sensational reporting used to get hits on a web page. Pitful.

Superstar Billy Graham. I was listening as well, and Graham said the funeral will be at his church in Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30. Graham himself said he would be officiating the service, and that he was asked by Eddie's wife. It all sounded quite odd to be honest. He spent almost half the interview talking about how he was in charge of the funeral and how he and Eddie's wife were planning it. It sounded like a promo or something. Apparantly the European tour has been postponed as most of the roster has demanded to go to Eddie's funeral. Bret didn't say much about Eddie other than a 2 minute or so comment about how he worked hard and how happy he was when he was successful in the WWE. Then they went onto his DVD and have been talking about that and Shawn's book.

Not to be a prick, but from Scott Keith's Backlash 2004 LIVE Arena rant: "FYI, my seats ended up being section 119, row 4 (which is literally one row off the floor and I was sitting right beside the hard camera and right behind the soundboard, dead center to the ring) and just to give you an idea of how great these seats were, Shane McMahon and Chuck Palumbo were sitting beside us. Shane was great, marking out like nuts all night and generally going with the flow." From the HBK/Benoit/HHH match recap: "Shawn takes him down into a Sharpshooter as Earl Hebner runs out as the new ref. This was supposed to be heel heat, but it was more like “I can’t believe they’re doing this” heat, and it just made us more pissed off at everyone involved in Montreal. Shawn breaks the move and slugs away on HHH in the corner, and now begins the mother of all “You Screwed Bret” chants at Shawn as he gets two on Benoit. TV doesn’t even do the chant justice, as it was THUNDEROUS live. Even Shane was chanting it!" It wouldn't surprise me if Shane was chanting at Brock at WM XX as well, though.

I believe Scott Keith's report mentioning Shane was from Backlash the next month. He was sitting behind Shane the whole night, and according to him, Shane was chanting "You Screwed Bret" along with the crowd at HBK during the 3 way rematch, so it had nothing to do with Goldberg/Lesnar or WM XX. It has already been said here numerous times, but the match had a terrible, terrible buildup. Goldberg wasn't even on TV in the weeks leading up to it, right? Then you stick Austin out there as the ref and HE is the one who gets all the attention, not the participants. Isn't that why Big Show was axed as the ref for Rock/Austin at WM 15? I think Austin hurt the match more than anything, because if you had Earl Hebner or Mike Chioda out there, at least he could tell them, "Hey Guys, speed it up and go home". Austin just stood back and watched, counted, and stunnered. I remember watching it live and thinking that they were intentionally doing boring shoves, staredowns, and lockups to get MORE heat. It didn't make sense if the crowd was shitting all over you to go out and do 5 minutes of BORING moves. Now I look back on it and think they just didn't know how to handle it. I was surprised that Vince or whoever didn't seem to think that there would be that kind of reaction. All 3 guys seemed totally lost out there once the crowd turned on them. If Vince was so certain that the X-8 crowd would be so pro-Hogan that he had him take a lear jet to get his red and yellow tights, don't you think he would know that everyone would shit on Goldberg/Lesnar?

In Shawn's defense, the Hogan, Angle, and Rock books all seemed horribly ghostwritten as well. Only Foley's sounded like him. And yes, Shawn was lying....... I was at that Kansas City show (the night after Pillman's death) and it was most certainly NOT sold out--the entire right upper deck was empty. Well, there were about 1000 people sitting up there, but there was easily 3-4000 empty seats. I've never really picked a side regarding Montreal. Both Bret and Shawn seemed like major assholes over the whole thing. I tend to believe if it was Shawn getting screwed by Bret then the entire IWC would be calling it the greatest moment ever. Yes, Shawn was a prick, but Bret was no saint either.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Austin singing to Vince on the first Smackdown after the Invasion started in 2001. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard at a wrestling show in my life. I was also completely shocked at the whole thing. As soon as Austin walked in with the guitar, I immediately hit "record" on my VCR, as I knew this would be something to remember.

Let me guess: Stephanie is going to promote herself to "One and Only" writer, since she is the only one who knows what the fans want. Everyone else will be fired. Expect Benoit and Eddy to be scooping up the shit of Lucy the Dog in 2 weeks.

Anyone checked Wal-Mart to see if they have it in early? I picked up the Warrior's DVD and the "Greatest Stars of the '80s" set there the weekend before the Tuesday release. I checked today and it wasn't there......yet. Anyone else come across it?

Best Buy around my neck of the woods only has stuff from the past year or so--both PPV's and speciality DVD's (Monday Night Wars, ECW, etc.) I'm just guessing that wrestling doesn't sell very well around here. I ran into the same thing years ago when I went to Toys 'R Us (I was like, 10) looking for the latest WWF Hasbro figures and being told they weren't carrying them anymore because they never sold. I guess I was the only one buying them. However, in 1999 and 2000, this area was FLOODED with wrestling DVD's. Usually Best Buy has (and still has) them in the "speciality" area in the back of the DVD's, and back then I swear they carried 10 copies of every PPV. Now, for older stuff, try Suncoast. I actually found SummerSlam 2000 there about a year ago. But the problem is that they only carry about 10 wrestling DVD's, total. So 9 of those will probably be the Undertaker DVD, but you might find SOMETHING. For the best selection of the past 2 years or so, go to Borders. They are pricer than other places (a PPV costs $25 and a speciality DVD is $28) but they had Royal Rumble 2004, WrestleMania X-8 and XIX, AND the Hogan DVD there the last time I went (2 weeks ago). Other than that, EBay is great as well. There are a lot of people selling all their wrestling DVD's, probably because they are so humilated to own them at this point. You can usually get PPV's for 10 bucks if you use the "Buy it Now" feature. Man, I didn't know I knew that much. I guess when you drive all over the city and surf over the net looking for the Road Warriors DVD you learn a little bit.

<--------------Man, I must REALLY suck then. But, I'm just more of a reader than a poster, that's all. But seriously, asking for a "booty slip?" I mean, the woman has posed NAKED for God's sake! I remember when Snitsky did his "foot fetish" backstage segment with Lita and Edge and suddenly all these feet lovers were begging for caps of THAT, too. Get a girlfriend, man.

yea I already have the legacy set so I can deal for now. I wasnt going to buy this set right now anyhow. Maybe if it goes on sale like you guys said. I mean I both wm 20 and 21 dvds and there are several music changes. I just thought it was insane to hear that actual wwe music had been changed yknow. I get it with the "real" liscensed songs. I just wish Vince and Co would stop being so petty about things like this. such is life I guess. My anger got the better of me last night I suppose. I retract that statement. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I agree 100%. I already own the Legacy box set, and the tapes are still in pretty good condition. No, they aren't DVD quality, and I have to fast forward through half of WM III to get to Savage/Steamboat, but it's still a good set. The only drawback is that XV-21 aren't included. However, I have the PPV tape of each of those, so it isn't like I'm missing any. If they had released each WM, either on it's own or in this box set as a "Special Edtion" type of release, with an extra disc of stuff, commentaties by the participants, an extra disc with a 4 hour WrestleMania documentary, etc.---Then I would rob a bank to get this on release day. But they didn't. What we got instead was simply each WM in DVD quality. Sure, that's good and all, but what's my reasoning for plunking down $150 for this set, when I did the same thing 5 years ago for the Legacy set and still enjoy THAT? This just isn't enough of an improvement for me to pay top dollar for. Now, like others have said, if I can find it for say, $75 bucks, then I might go for it. But I'm not going to "double dip" as most DVD nuts say, for a new edition that really doesn't bring anything new to the table.

What I don't understand is why should The Coach have won the match? How will that help business? What was Vince's reasoning behind this whole idea? So J.R. gets fired, humiliated by the entire McMahon family, then humiliated again by Vince pulling things out of his ass. Austin sticks up for his friend by fighting his replacement to get his job back, and Austin.....loses? Not only does J.R. not get his job back, but Austin would then be "fired" as well. How is that beneficial to anyone? Unless Jonathan Coachman is getting a world title push, it makes no sense. When Batista helped J.R. beat HHH eariler this year, it was booked correctly and made sense. HHH destroys J.R. for 10 minutes, Batista runs in, kills HHH, and J.R. gets a fluke pin. It furthered the HHH/Batista feud while still keeping HHH strong, as it was made clear that there was no way J.R. could have beaten him on his own. Now, fast forward to Austin/Coach. If Coach wins the match with Mark Henry's interference, how does that further the angle? In fact, wouldn't the angle be over at that point? J.R. is still fired, and Austin is now fired as well. How does Austin get his revenge? How does J.R. get his job back? The answer to both of those questions is--he doesn't. There is no reason for a fucking ANNOUNCER to defeat the biggest draw in the history of the company. Austin was perfectly right in walking out on such a stupid match and storyline. The difference between this and 2002 is that Brock Lesnar was a wrestler. Jonathan Coachman is not.

You know, having a fan interactive PPV is an awesome idea. Having a fan interactive PPV, then doing everything but telling us who to vote for is not. Flair begs for his match with HHH to be in a cage, Big Show and Kane are suddenly an unstoppable tag team, and the show ends with Cena, HBK, and Angle in the ring together. Gee, I wonder what the "results" will be tomorrow night?

To me, it was when HHH tore his quad in 2001. He and Austin were putting on some great matches with Benoit and Jericho, and they were obviously building for a Austin vs. HHH program for the summer/fall. With their #2 star out for 8 months, the WWF went into panic mode and started the Invasion way too early. We all know that. They blew their load on that angle, and with Vince still in burial mode with WCW, the whole idea was a joke. Plus you had the McMahon kids in charge of ECW and WCW with Austin, a WWF guy being the Hogan character that everyone bowed to. No one bought the whole idea when half of the "WCW" and "ECW" invaders had just been with WWE a week eariler. Then the era of the quick fix began, with the nWo returning, along with Steiner, Goldberg, and Bischoff. None of them were ever pushed strong, again as a result of Vince hating anything WCW created. Heel Austin could have been awesome, but instead of changing his entire persona like Hogan did, we just had the same SCSA beating up faces instead of heels. I mean, the Austin character as a face was a classic wrestling heel, and I don't think the WWF knew what to do with him when he REALLY was a heel. Then they had him hugging Vince and doing comedy with Kurt Angle, and the entire turn, and character, was a joke. But in my opinion it all goes back to HHH's quad tear. That injury fucked up the long term booking plan the WWF had prepared, and they had to re-do everything once he went out. If the WWF/E would have not done the Invasion, they could have spent more time building up guys like Booker T. as main eventers. Instead, anyone associated with WCW or ECW became a joke after the Invasion, because they lost. Therefore, they were weaker than any of the WWF/E guys, like.......HHH. That same feeling is there today---that HHH is the biggest star they have and no one is over enough to carry the show other than him. Perhaps, just perhaps, if he hadn't torn his quad, he would have had to wrestle through the year with everyone else, and wouldn't have become THE GREATEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD BECAUSE HE CAME BACK FROM A CAREER ENDING INJURY BAH GAWD! Just my two cents.

I started watching about 10 minutes in....I missed Sean Mooney! Nooooooo! Anyone know if this will re-air again? Bret talking about how he wished he "Would have been with this company when Owen had his accident" was a little surreal. I hope WWE doesn't show any more of him, because I want everything on his DVD to be new stuff.

WWE has won this battle by far. First of all, the DVD will be seen and available to many more people than a message on Warrior's webpage. And second, Warrior has said time and time again that he is finished with the WWE, doesn't care, and has moved on. He more or less said he didn't care about the DVD before it was released, but wrote another 5000 word Warrior manifesto to refute the entire thing. I think a couple of people here called him on that. Warrior fell right into WWE's trap, in my opinion. They issued an open invitation on Byte This, knowing that he would decline, but knowing that he would post a rambling message on his website that they could exploit and say "Look! He really IS a nutcase!"

So wait, the Warrior disc (the special edition, FYE 2 disc one) DOES have the "Ultimate Impressions" and blooper reel on it? I thought it was just the 3 extra matches. I'm pissed at myself for running to Wal-Mart and picking it up early last week, when I could have had an extra disc if I had waited a few days. I'm the type that gets the "special edition" of every movie or CD, so I was royally pissed when I heard that FYE was selling a 2 disc Warrior set. J.R. didn't answer my e-mail about Jesse Ventura's commentary being left out of current DVD's and if he'll be on the WrestleMania set. I even worded it like a mark would, so he would consider it. Hmmmmm......

Another thing I noticed on the DVD: When they were talking about him missing dates in 96 (which led to Gorilla "suspending" him), they showed several different promotional ads, some of which were from 1991 or so, which didn't make much sense because they were talking about 1996, but go figure. However, one of them was for something called the "Attitude Adjustment" tour, and one of the matches was advertised as a "Federation Title Match" between Champion Warrior and Challenger Vader. Now, where was it in the plans for Warrior to get the belt during his 96 run? I can't ever remember him going anywhere above a I-C title feud with Goldust. Surely they weren't planning on taking the belt off Shawn, were they? Have I just been in the dark about this tidbit for years?

Well, thanks to this board, I drove to Wal-Mart at 10:30 at night, and lo and behold, there were two copies left, so I snatched one up. By the way, if you use Wal-Mart's Self Checkout, there is no way to de-sensitize the security tag inside DVD's (or as we called them when I worked at Borders, "chicklets"), so I beeped on the way out, but just kept on walking. I was a HUGE, I mean, GIGANTIC Ultimate Warrior fan when I was a kid, and his defeat of Hogan at WM VI was a Benoit at WM XX like moment, for me at least. So it goes without saying that I was eagerly anticipating this release, especially the main feature. My two cents: It was really interesting to see the "Dingo Warrior" walking to the ring, slapping the hands of fans like some goofy babyface and not the crazy Warrior we are all familar with. I liked how they finally acknowleged "Parts Unknown" as well. I can still remember watching Warrior's appearance on "Regis and Kathie Lee" to hype SummerSlam 1990 (where he turned over all of the furniture--still the best talk show appearance ever by a wrestler IMO) and Regis asked him "So where are you from?" He answered "Parts Unknown" and there was an ackward silence from both Regis and Kathie Lee. My grandmother, on the other hand, was much more vocal. "Parts Unknown? Give me a break! How can you not know where you are from?" I still laugh about that all the time. What was the point of including the match with HTM at SS 88 as an extra, when the whole thing is on the main feature? The whole SS 91 controversey was a surprise to me. I mean, I knew something was up when Warrior chased Mustafa and Adnan back with a chair and wasn't heard from again, but holding up for more money was ridiculous. But, I guess Jeff Jarrett might still have a future when TNA goes south. Once again, I liked how they mentioned the long standing "Warrior is dead" rumor, along with other things, like his lawsuit, and how he was supposed to feud with Nailz (but not, apparantly). Anyone know what "drug" test he failed? Steroids? I can't believe they showed the Papa Shango puking angle. I can remember being emotionally scared by the "black ooze" promo when it aired, though. I liked having the Warrior/Rude cage match as an extra, as I hadn't seen that since renting the VHS when it first came out. What I did notice is how Piper absolutely HATES Warrior, bashing him throughout the whole match. I loved how he kept asking why Warrior always pumped his arms up and down. "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Great stuff. I'm sending an e-mail to Jim Ross right now asking why Jesse isn't on commentary on any recent releases. If he's not on the WM box set, count me out. I don't want Michael Cole and Tazz overdubbing everything. All in all, it was surprising to hear some of what was said in the feature, simply because after the "Monday Night Wars" DVD, I was expecting to hear bits and pieces, not the whole story. I guess since Warrior wasn't involved, that left the WWE to say and put whatever they wanted to on this release. I didn't see it as an outright burial, but they definitely made Warrior seem extremely lucky for what happened to him.

The two biggest stars in the history of North American wrestling facing each other for the first time ever in a singles match, on the biggest stage of them all, and it wouldn't be the biggest match of all time? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The fans don't care about either guy as much as they did when they were in their primes. Like I said, you can't bring Austin back and have the fans care about him the same way they did in 98 and 99. Same with Hogan. Is he still popular? Of course. But he's nowhere near where he was at WM III. I'm not saying that no one would care about a match like this, but it wouldn't be the biggest match ever. Hogan/Andre, Hogan/Rock, and Hogan/Warrior are the 3 biggest WWE matches of all time, in my opinion. There's no way Hogan/Austin would sell 93,000 tickets and sell out the Pontiac Silverdome.

Hogan/Austin would not be the biggest match of all time. Now, if it was 1987 Hogan vs. 1998 Austin, then it would be, but both guys are shells of their former selves, and the "Hulk Hogan Nostalgia Tour" has overstayed it's welcome. There's only so many times you can put Hogan out there in a "dream match" against Rock, HHH, Vince, HBK or whoever and expect people to care. Sure, it will pop a good buyrate, but we don't need Austin and his bad neck wrestling Hogan and his bad knee and artificial hip. It would be like putting Muhammad Ali out there against Mike Tyson. It was a good idea at one time, but not now. Hogan has a "He's STILL wrestling? Isn't he 87 years old?" type of response to him now. It was cool in 1994 when he wrestled Flair, and it was still cool in 2002 when he wrestled the Rock, because he could still at least MOVE around the ring. Now he can't even bump properly. Does he still sell PPV's? Sure. But this isn't 1988 anymore. Austin's act has gotten extremely stale. Like Hogan, but add a decade. This isn't 1998 anymore. Flipping off the boss and drinking 45 beers was cool 7 years ago, but not anymore. Yes, I will admit that Hogan and Austin (along with Rock) are the biggest stars in the company's history. But their star power isn't as bright as it once was. If the WWE wants to do a Austin/Hogan match, then yes, it would be a big deal. But don't treat it like a main event like Hogan/Vince or Hogan/Rock was.

I agree with almost everyone who has posted as far as PPV's go. I wouldn't make EVERY PPV have some sort of gimmick match. Some PPV's need to have an open booking format, definitely WrestleMania, and SummerSlam. If you want to make Armageddon famous for Hell In A Cell, terrific, but don't do it 12 times a year. I agree there is little difference between the shows now. Quick: What happened at No Mercy 2002? Yeah, I can't remember either, but if there was an Elimination Chamber match each year, I bet more of us WOULD remember it. I would bring back King of the Ring, and have the actual tournament winner be someone that you want to elevate into the main event position IMMEDIATELY, like Owen Hart. Having Billy Gunn winning it, then jobbing him out to the Rock two months later doesn't make much sense. Ditto for Edge. He's still not a serious main event player years after winning the thing. I'm not saying the winner should immediately be the #1 contender and get a title shot at Summerslam, but he should have a definite status change within the ranks as a result of it. Also, the Survivor Series must have ALL team-elimination type matches. Just for one PPV, could we not have a World Title match and just have them be on opposite teams? I think it creates an interesting dynamic. When you do what they've done in recent years and make it Just Another PPV®, it doesn't matter much. Also, (and some might disagree with this), stop having the Royal Rumble winner get an automatic World Title shot at WrestleMania. All it does is immediately narrow the list of possible winners to around 2 or 3, in some cases we know instantly who will win (Michaels in 96, Austin in 98 and 01, HHH in 02, Brock in 03, either Cena or Batista in 05). When we already know who is planned for the WrestleMania main event, it makes the RR basically a placesetter to set that match up. Why not just have a Rumble for the hell of it, and have a Big John Studd type guy win? That way, we won't have a pre-determined idea each year, and someone like RVD or Shelton can actually win the thing. Like KOTR, the Rumble could be a setup for someone to move up in the ranks as well. This has already been said numerous times, but Smackdown and Raw need a cosmetic makeover, stat. I just watched the post 9/11 Smackdown, and I was surprised to notice that the "Fist" stage setup was being used 4 years ago. The sliver ring apron and ringposts are awful as well. It looks like they are wrestling on some sort of spaceship. Raw is even worse, as the set and theme song seem like the 1997 version if it had a Brutus Beefcake type accident. When Raw went from the small arena format with the "R-A-W" letters as the entrance to the "Raw is War" set in 1997, it was like a breath of fresh air that made me interested as a fan again. I don't know what they could do different, but it needs a change, FAST. They change the PPV sets every year, so why not the TV shows as well? Along that line, keep the PPV sets the same every year, with the exception of WrestleMania. Talk about throwing away money--why do we need a fresh Unforgiven set each September? Also, anytime an event is held in Madison Square Garden, including WrestleMania, use the smaller entranceway. It always bugs me when they have Raw there, and use the regular RAW set. They play up MSG so much, so why treat it like any other venue? Another repeat---No more general managers, President's, CEO's, Chairmans, Owners, etc---unless they are put into a Jack Tunney/Linda McMahon type role for major announcements only. No more "Authority Figure vs. Wrestler" storylines. Yes Austin vs. McMahon drew money, but it was because it had never been done before. We don't need anymore Bischoff vs. Austin, Bischoff vs. Cena, or Bischoff vs. every face on the roster storylines. No more backstage segments, except for interviews. I don't want to see Lita confronting Matt Hardy, or Bischoff plotting with Kurt Angle. Having a camera and lighting crew filming a private conversation makes no sense. If you are going to do that, have it be a hidden camera or something. It's almost embarrasing to see Teddy Long sitting in the same office every week, as if each arena has an identical room. When you are building fricking SETS for backstage segments, you're turning it into a sitcom. Why must we be told and see EVERTHING that happens? Let us figure it out for ourselves! I know that HHH and Batista hate each other. I don't need to see HHH and Ric Flair sitting in the back talking about it. Start each Raw or Smackdown with a match, not some 20 minute interview. In fact, no more 20 minute interviews, period. Make them 10 minutes, and have it be part of some gimmick interview segment, like Piper's Pit. Have it somewhere away from the ring, where the focus is on the INTERVIEW. They set it up in the ring so that a brawl can erupt each time they do it. I always watched the Highlight Reel just waiting for whoever was on to get into a fight with either Jericho or someone else. If you have it off somewhere else in the arena, you'll probably have less fighthing and more focus on interviews--and if a fight does erupt, it will be more memorable, like the coconut on Piper's Pit or Jannetty going through the window on the Barber Shop. Duh--no more scripted ANYTHING. I can't believe they are writing scripts for wrestlers to follow when they deliver promos in the ring. Again, this is not a TV drama, and we don't need former writers from "Ellen" or wherever to tell Randy Orton what to say. Let the wrestlers say what they want, and have someone from creative fine help them fine tune everything. How is giving Shelton Benjamin a sheet of paper and telling him "Say this" going to make him better on the mike? Let the fans decide who to push and who to can. Now, I'm all for creating new stars, but don't shove someone like Chris Masters down our throat because YOU think he is "a young stud who can go far in this business". We've always heard that the fans decide everything--so LISTEN to who we cheer and boo for--don't TELL us who to cheer and boo. You wonder why ratings are down? Well, when you have people like Tyson Tomko fighting the world champion two weeks after being on Heat, well, I think it's pretty easy to figure out why. People saw him thought, "Isn't that the guy who always stood behind Christian and never did anything? Why is he suddenly a star?" Why should we suddenly consider him as a threat to anyone when he was never over, or a threat to begin with? WWE went so far in 2002 as literally bringing in Brock Lesnar as "The Next Big Thing"--here he is fans, and you're going to like him, because WE think he can be a star. Just sticking someone out there and expecting us to buy him as a major player, when he hasn't been built up at all is nonsense. We can't have Tyson Tomko: Bodyguard go from that to "Tyson Tomko: Unstoppable Monster who knocks people out" instantly. No more "Main Event Style", unless that's how the guy wants to work. Telling Brock Lesnar, a NCAA Champion wrestler, to go out there and kick and punch is absurd. Also, find out what each guy's strengths and weaknesses are BEFORE you put them out there. Don't tell Rob Conway to go flying off the top rope if he isn't comfortable doing it. Everyone else has already mentioned giving the cruisers more freedom, and I second that. Why not have several different wrestling styles on each show? That's what WCW used to do--you had Hogan stinking up the main event with his back rakes and punching, but you had Rey Mysterio flying all over the place and Raven smashing STOP signs over people's heads in a hardcore match. Have a mixture of everything. Does the WWE really think that we want to see everyone fighting the same way? No more women's wrestling. I'm not being sexist here, but the only one of them worth a damn is Trish, and she's injured half the time. Fire all but the main Divas (Trish, Stacy, Torrie, Christy, Candace, Ashley, Melina) and give each of them something different to do. Keep Melina as a manager, and Stacy and Trish as well. Put someone like Ashley as a co-host on a Mania type recap show each week. Have Torrie and Christy come out to warm up the live crowd by having a pillow fight as a dark match or something. Bring back Saturday Night's Main Event, preferably on NBC. And have it be the retro-80's version, even with the old theme song. Have no elaborate entranceway either, except for maybe something like WM 11-13. Have it once a month, alternating between Smackdown and Raw, and use it exclusively to build toward the upcoming PPV. Don't use anyone who won't be on the card. Bring back a weekly show like Superstars, and have it be all squash matches to show off talent to try and get them over with the fans. Always have some major match or segment so people won't get bored watching squashes every week. Do something about the brand extension--maybe even end it. I mean, I truly feel that the whole idea is what has affected ratings the most. It's good for everyone on the roster, as someone like Rob Conway would have never been a regular on Raw in 1999--but Rob Conway shouldn't be a regular on Raw in 2005, either. The biggest problem with the WWE right now is that they are just not creating compelling characters, or storylines. Again, why are we supposed to care/hate Chris Masters? Are we supposed to boo Conway? What is appealing about the Viscera/Val Venis tag team? Uh, why is Chavo suddenly calling himself Kerwin, and why should I care? When Booker T and Edge fought over Shampoo at WrestleMania X-8, I knew it wasn't about wrestling anymore. If you're going to have a writing team, fine. But they can only work for the company if they've had wrestling experience. No more former Nickelodeon employees. And they shouldn't have such a "hands-on" approach, either. Don't have a Russo type sitting there telling someone what kind of emotions to have or how to do a particular promo. Just have them go, "Ok Chris. You'll be working with Angle for the next two months, having a best of 7 series to determine the best overall wrestler in the WWE. The last match will be an iron man match at WrestleMania. Ok? Go!" Let the wrestlers figure out the rest, working with someone like Pat Patterson if they need advice or guidance. Take Stephanie off of creative and replace her with someone who, well, has actual in-ring experience. The only reason she is where she is at is because her father is the head of the company. I think it's good that she wants to be involved in the business, but it needs to be in another capacity, because it's pretty obvious that she cannot create and oversee any interesting storylines. Ric Flair should retire as an in-ring performer and become the new Pat Patterson, helping the guys with their matches, promos, etc. I mean, he was crying on his DVD talking about how great it is that the young guys want to learn, then why not have the best wrestler ever teach them? Speaking of retiring, so should Jim Ross, at least as a on air broadcaster. Like John Madden, he really isn't there for the wrestling anymore, and has become stale. Same with the King. They are both doing the same tired act that they were in 1998. Put two, maybe even three people out there. I can't honestly say who would work at this point, but have them put EVERYONE over. That's what I love about Gorilla/Jesse, as they always made someone like Hercules or Dino Bravo look like a million bucks. Plus, they spoke of the actual WRESTLING aspect of the product, like why and how a figure-four leglock hurts your opponent. All J.R does is call moves. Boring. Michael Cole needs to be taken off my TV, NOW. I'm sure he could still be used otherwise, but it's always been obvious to me that he was hired with no wrestling knowledge or experience, and has learned as he goes. That's fine, but there is such a difference between a Michael Cole and a Gorilla Monsoon as far as commentary goes. I actually like Tazz, and think he does pretty well most of the time. Stop worrying about protecting spots. HHH can lose a feud every once in a while. So can Undertaker. Randy Orton should have beaten him this year at Mania if they have any plans for him to be a future star. Having him win the second match, with his father's help, is not giving him the "rub". Austin lost a feud to HHH in 2001, then won the world title one month later, and no one thought any less of him. HHH or Shawn don't need to get their wins back. And finally, if you advertise and hype a match as a "once in a lifetime" type of deal, really only have ONE match. They hyped Angle vs. Shawn as the only time it would happen, and then had a rematch 3 months later. It all goes back to Hogan/Andre. I always look down on that feud because they feuded for a year and a half after WM III. If WM would have been their one and only meeting, we would be talking about that as an epic battle, not just another match.

WrestleMania VIII had some great Bobby moments as well. ---Tito Santana hits Shawn Michaels with his "El Paso De Muerte" fistdrop, which Gorilla calls correctly. Heenan: What was that? "Extra Hot Pace Picante?" ---The entire Flair/Savage match. It's right up there with the 92 Rumble in terms of Heenan greatness. ---But the best one, and my favorite Heenan moment ever, was at the beginning of the Tatanka/Martel match, which followed Flair/Savage. Bobby was hysterical over Flair's loss, and Monsoon kept egging him on until Bobby ended up challenging him to a fight, right there in the booth. "Put Em' Up!" Classic, classic stuff. Lawler wishes he could be half as good as Bobby Heenan was.